Let me not outlive my own capacity to love

This past Friday I drove up to NoVA to see Kay's new show, Metamorphoses, by Mary Zimmerman. The play was superb. Seriously, I couldn't believe how well-acted, well-directed, and how beautifully staged it was. Kay was gorgeous and wonderful, as I knew she would be, but overall the play is an ensemble piece, and I thought the interactions between cast members and the fact that they never lost sight of the story they were telling really made the evening. Losing sight of the story would be easy, since they have a large pool to play in, but the water never became the focus. Instead, the myths, the human condition, and overall, the way love works in our lives remained central.

At the end of the play, a husband and wife are given a choice of any favor the gods can grant them. They ask to die at the same moment, so as not to ever stop loving, so as to die loving, and so never to die.

It made me think a lot about love, and how lucky I am to have been surrounded by it during my life. The past weekend really reinforced it, as I had dinner before the show with Kay, Brian, and Mike J., and realized how incredibly dear these three people are to me. We can make fun of each other and tell off-color jokes and underneath it all there is such deep love and perfect comfort. I have the love of my parents, too, who always listen to me, who give me good advice, and who will never, ever forsake me. I have the best cousin the world, Josh, who is one of my closest friends. I have Kacey, and Megan A., and Shea, so many people here in Williamsburg who I love and who love me. I have friends in Richmond, and friends from Missouri, and friends who now live across the globe. Although we are so far apart and so rarely see each other, I don't know what I would do without their friendship and love.

Yesterday I got to see where Zan lives. It was absolutely beautiful and the day was perfect. We played with sheep and dogs and tossed a coin about where to eat for lunch which ended up not mattering at all and caravaned to Williamsburg with the windows down and music playing. I got to have dinner with Kacey, who I have really missed. It's been a busy semester and we haven't seen nearly enough of each other. I played Star Trek Scene-It with Zan, Mike, and Cole and somehow managed to win even though I only answered one question correctly (hell, yes, Genesis Cave). :)

And the sun is out. I am wearing my yellow dress that I bought in Bath to herald the spring, and my new sky-blue t-strap flats. I had a picnic lunch on the Sunken Gardens today and texted Shea how much I wanted an ice lolly like they sold in the park across from Nunes. I ate fresh strawberries, so sweet they don't even need to be sugared.

Isn't this all love, in some sense? Sometimes, I feel so down and afraid and I feel as if the world is a dark grey, but then I begin to think of these things. God-willing, I shall never forget how pervasive love is in a single life, nor how important, and I shall never stop loving, and so never die.

EDIT: And then I got chocolate-covered strawberries! And Zan and I went for a walk in CW! And Journey "Don't Stop Believin'" is 28 on Britain's top 30! Could life get any better?